Modelling & Rigging a Cartoon Parrot in Maya: Part 8

1. Baking Color Map

Step 1

Apply the color map. Open Hypershade window. Select 2D Textures group as shown in the following image.

Hypershade

Step 2

After
selecting 2D Textures group, click
on File node to add it in the work
area. Double click on the file texture node inside the work area to open its attributes.

2D Textures Group

Step 3

In
the File Attributes, click on Image Name folder icon.

File Attributes

Step 4

Browse the BodyColor.PSD texture file which was saved in the previous part of the
tutorial.

Body Color.PSD

Step 5

Open FurDescription1 Attributes and Hypershade window side by side. With
the file node selected, drag it with the middle mouse button and drop onto the Base Color and Tip Color slider one by one. After that, click on the Bake button.

Hypershade

Step 6

After backing
the color map, render the scene to check the baked fur.

Test Render

2. Apply Color Texture

Step 1

You have to
apply the color texture map once again for the parrot’s body. So, with the Blinn shader node selected, rename it
as BodyColorMat inside the work
area.

BodyColorMat

Step 2

With the File2 node selected, hold down the middle
mouse button and then drag and drop it onto the BodyColorMat shade node. Select Color option in the fly out menu.

BodyColorMat

Step 3

To see the
texture in the viewport, go to Shading>Hardware Texturing and turn on the check box. Alternatively, press 6 on the keyboard.

Hardware Texturing

Step 4

With the
parrot body mesh selected, do right click on the BodyColorMat shader node. In the fly out menu, click on Assign Material To Selection option to
apply the material shade on the parrot body mesh.

Assign Material To Selection

Step 5

The color
texture is now visible on the parrot body mesh.

Color Map

3. Smoothing Body Mesh

Step 1

Render a
test frame. You can see the rendered output is not smooth. You need to tweak
some values to make it smooth.

Step 3

4. Setting Fur Attributes

Step 1

Rename the FurDescription1 tab to FurDescription_Body,
so you can identify it easily.

Setting Fur Attributes

Step 2

Change the
values of Inclination to 0.800 and Polar to 1.00.

Inclination

Step 3

Render the test frame. Some more enhancement is needed to make it look
like fur.

Test Render

Step 4

Change the
values of Length to 1.870, Base Opacity to 0.800, Tip Opacity to 0.500, Base Width to 1.00, Tip Width to 0.390, Base Curl to 0.500 and Tip Curl to 0.710.

Change the Values

5. Adding Details to the Fur Attributes

Step 1

After setting
up the main fur attributes, it’s time to add details to the fur attributes. Inside
the the Details panel and under the Base Color setting group, change the
values of Noise Amplitude to 0.160 and Frequency to 10.00.

Adding Details to the Fur Attributes

Step 2

Inside the Length setting group, change the value
of Noise Amplitude to 2.00. In your case, you can change the
values as per your requirement.

Noise Amplitude

Step 3

Render a
test frame. This looks denser than before. However you need to decrease the
length of the fur and a bit of opacity.

Render a Test Frame

Step 4

Inside the FurDescription_Body
attributes, change the values of Length to 1.00, Base Opacity to 0.900, Tip Opacity to 0.200, Base Width to 0.900, and Tip Width to 0.300.

Change the Values

Step 5

Render the
test frame. The fur is looking better than before. But the fur is not grown up
properly around the eyes. This problem can be solved by the editing in the Bald map texture.

Render the Test Frame

6. Exporting UVs for Re Edit Bald Map

Step 1

With the FurDescription_Body
selected, go to Display >Hide >Hide Selection command to hide the
fur.

Hide Selection

Step 2

With the Polygons mode of the application
selected, go to Edit UVs >UV Texture Editor.

Polygons Mode

Step 3

In the UV Texture Editor window, go to Polygons >UV Snapshot option.

UV Texture Editor

Step 4

In the UV Snapshot window, locate and rename
the file as Body outUV. Keep the
values of Size X and Size Y as 2048 and then click on OK
button to save the file.

UV Snapshot

Step 5

Open the Body outUV file in Photoshop.

Photoshop

Step 6

Create a new
layer and keep it above the BG layer. Rename it as UVS.

Rename

Step 7

Go to File>Place command to
place the image.

Place command

Step 8

In the Place window, locate the Bald Map file and then click on Place button.

Bald Map

Step 9

The Bald Map appears on the top. You will
see a crossed bounding box, so press Enter
key to fix it.

Bald Map

Step 10

Keep the Bald Map layer between the UVS and BG layers. With the Bald Map
selected, do right click and choose Rasterize
Layer option.

Rasterize Layer

Step 11

The UVS layer is above the Bald Map. You can paint now according
to your need.

Bald Map

Step 12

The goal is
to make the area around the eyes blurred. Select a feathered brush and
paint the area around the eyes with black color.

Blurred Edges

Step 13

After
finishing the Bald map in Photoshop, save the file with the same
name. Apply this map in Maya again and bake it again.

Bake Texture in Maya

Step 14

Render the
test frame to check the fur distribution around the eyes area. This looks good
now.

Test Render

Step 15

Go to Display > Show>All command to unhide
the hidden elements.

Unhide the Hidden Element

Step 16

In this way,
you get the hidden elements like feathers and eye balls again.

Unhide the Hidden Element

Step 17

This is the
final rendered image of the parrot with fur. In the next part of the tutorial,
you will learn about rigging of the parrot.

Final Rendered Frame

Final Rendered Frame

Conclusion

In this tutorial, in the series, I showed you how to edit the maps for the distribution of fur.

In the next tutorial, in the series, I'll show you how to rigging of the parrot’s body.